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A Good Man Is Hard To Find Literary Analysis

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We live in a world full of sin. Attempting to find a good man in today’s world is indeed hard to find. No one individual on this planet is by definition perfect and by human nature we all have our own distinct flaws. However, there are some people that recognize their flaws and bad qualities and try to fix them but on the other hand, some people never notice such things about themselves. The lack of noticing and addressing these flaws a person may have can lead to unhealthy relationships with others or possibly put others in danger. The grandmother in “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, is a good example of a person who never recognized their flaws. The grandmother was an old lady who lived with her son named Bailey, his …show more content…

On the way to the house the grandmother remembered that the house was actually in Tennessee not in Georgia. Embarrassed and shocked, the grandmother’s foot jumped, accidentally releasing the cat from the bag. The cat then sprung onto Bailey’s arms causing him to flip the car over. Even though they were in an accident, the grandmother decided not to tell Bailey that the house was actually in Tennessee. The family waited for help until a car with three men with guns spotted them. Unfortunately, the grandmother realized that those three men were the Misfit and his two goons. The two goons shot and killed Bailey, his wife and the kids. The grandmother was last. She tried everything her power to convince him not to kill her but she never begged to spare her children nor her grandchildren lives. She attempted to manipulate him and to draw him into her world by telling him that he is a good man and would not want to kill a lady. He agreed with her but he had no reason to spare her life. Being close to her death she started to realize the bad personality that she had throughout her lifetime and she accepted that she is the same as everyone else. She said to the Misfit “why you’re one of my babies. You’re one of my own children”(O’Connor106). The Misfit then killed

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“A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor begins with the introduction of the grandmother. It can quickly be noted that this woman holds herself in high regard. Grandmother views herself as a prim and proper lady. However, she does not possess the qualities of a lady. She is dishonest, selfish, and hypocritical.

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Bailey’s relationship with her mom’s side of the family is very close. Staying the night with her grandparents would put a big, goofy smile on her face.

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She was an old lady who always had to have it her way or she was not happy, and everyone knew it, quick to judge, and was not the most forgiving person on Earth. Her character's outlook changed when she knew her death was imminent while talking to The Misfit. In return, The Misfit at the end says "She would have been a good woman," "if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life." (O'Connor, 133) Which gives the reader more to think on as they go about life maybe they are one who judges way too quickly before getting to know

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Life allows people to create experiences and understand the world. When given the choice between life or death, many will do whatever it takes to survive. However, when placed in the hands of a killer, the victim should not convince the assassin reasons not to kill him or her, for this will only cause further problems, and this is exactly what the grandmother in A Good Man is Hard to Find did. Towards the end of the story, the grandmother comes face to face with the Misfit in attempts to persuade him not to kill her; however, through the grandmother’s inability to understand the Misfit and her lack of knowledge when pleading for her life, the Misfit should not have shown any empathy towards her. Beginning with the value of religion, the grandmother

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In the 1953 short story titled “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor, readers are given a glimpse of what the end of the story may look like through use of foreshadowing, symbolism, and other literary techniques. Although the story looks to be an innocent story of a family who travels to Florida for vacation at the start of it, readers soon find out that the story has a darker twist to it. This family trip turns violent and this gruesome ending can easily represent the violence taking place in America during the time this story was written by O’Connor and even today. The short story starts off with a family of six- parents, a grandmother, and three children-

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Making judgements of others is something many of us often do. It’s almost like a second nature to us. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find” by Flannery O’Connor and Nathaniel Hawthorne’s “Young Goodman Brown” it is easy to see that we should not be so quick to judge others. In “A Good Man is Hard to Find”, a grandmother, her son, her daughter-in-law, and three of her grandchildren are taking a road trip to Florida.

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The grotesque psychopathic nature of the characters in Flannery O’Connor’s, “A Good Man Is Hard to Find,” ironically shows how a good man does not truly exist through the revelation and proclamation of what characteristics a good man possess. In the story The Misfit shows characteristics of a psychopath by escaping prison and killing an innocent family. However, The Misfit isn’t the only character in the short story to show psychopathic tendencies. The grandma also shows some characteristics of a psychopath because she does not care or show remorse for her family who was brutally murdered

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Throughout time, the idea of what a good man is has changed. It used to be centered on the church – either you were a good man who went to church, or you were a heathen. During the time period of this story, the mid-nineteen fifties, everything was changing. While the new generations were beginning to award the “good man” or “good woman” titles to people that actually went out of their way to help others, the older generations were still stuck in the eighteenth century. In this short story titled “A Good Man is Hard to Find,” Flannery O’Connor makes it a point to show the difference between proclaiming to be a good man, and being one.

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This story is about a grandmother who does all the wrong things and ends up getting herself and her family killed. In A Good Man is Hard to Find, we go through this adventure with a family that never truly makes their destination. The lies begin to build and the loose term of a good man gets thrown around one too many times. Does dressing like a lady and acting proper like a lady truly save your life? The grandmother’s moral code and values are skewed and largely self-concerning.

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Does a “Good” Man Exist? The morbid tale of a family’s encounter with a The Misfit makes them question the meaning of good. Aristotle’s teaching on good states that good cannot be defined, which contradicts what the grandmother believes. She thinks that her way is the best.

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Even her young grandchildren acknowledge that their Grandmother is unabashedly nosy when they comment: “She wouldn’t stay home for a million bucks… afraid she’d miss something” (O’Connor Good Man 284). The children don’t seem to be extremely fond of her; most likely because of the condescending way she often speaks to them. When they are driving through Georgia, John Wesley makes a disparaging comment about their home state, and the Grandmother responds haughtily saying, “If I were a little boy, I wouldn’t talk about my native state that way” (O’Connor Good Man 285). Despite all this, she still views herself as a good and fine woman. When talking to the man at the restaurant where the family stops for lunch, she remarks, “People are certainly not nice like they used to be” (O’Connor Good Man 287).

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814 Words | 4 Pages

A convict and a grandmother are more alike than the common one may think. In Flannery O’Conner’s story “A Good Man Is Hard to Find”, demonstrates a similarity between the Misfit and the grandmother showing that good and evil are not the same in all individuals. O’Conner uses these certain characters to show the difference between good and bad, but in the end both the grandmother and the Misfit show a change in character. Flannery O’Conner’s catholic background has influenced all her stories. O’Conner’s family was one of the first to live in her hometown of Milledgeville, Georgia she also attended parochial school.

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855 Words | 4 Pages

Her effort by showing them an article in newspaper for an escaped person, Misfit who killed some people and hypothetical was in Florida, did not work. During the journey while passing through a plantation grandma thought she recognized that place and with her intrigue words she convinced them to go and visit the place. Later on, when she remembered that she was confused and the house was in Tennessee, the cat jumped and scared Bailey. They had an accident. Then, a car stopped.

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336 Words | 2 Pages

This week’s topic was very helpful to me because when I’m writing stories I found it challenging to create characters, I could never get a good grasp on how to make my characters “real”. In the text reading, I found that having a character with flaws leads to them being “real” or round and having a character who is perfect is leads to them not being real because no one is perfect not even a fictional character. I have always admired O’Connor work because her characterization is done very well. In the story “A Good Man is Hard to Find” the grandmother untrustworthy shines through when she constantly lies to her children and the people around. For example, in the text it states “She knew that Bailey would not be willing to lose any time looking

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844 Words | 4 Pages

The misfit gains awareness of human morals when he kills the grandmother and he says, "She would have been a good woman...if it had been somebody there to shoot her every minute of her life" (O 'Connor 1020), he then realized that she wasn 't all that good. O 'Connor did a good job of interpreting the grandmother as a way to put away the values of the old Southern America; she also interprets the Misfit as a type of common man who is defiantly not perfect which can a realistic version of the new Southern America. In "A Good Man is Hard to Find", the irritating grandmother cares more about matters such as her appearance and manners, she dressed her best for the car ride and the reason for her doing this is so that "In case of an accident, anyone seeing her dead on the highway would at once know that she was a lady." (O 'Connor 1010). The grandmother is a very selfish woman, the first thing she said to the Misfit is "You wouldn 't shoot a lady, would you?"

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